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GROUP TEST
NICAM VCRs
INTRO
The first of the 95/96 season VCRs have arrived, Rick
Maybury has been casting a critical ear, and eye, to five of the very latest NICAM
machines
AKAI VS-G75 £380
Not so long ago Akai were at the cutting edge of home cinema
technology with a range of highly-specified VCRs, a couple of them equipped
with Dolby Surround decoders, but they’ve been a little quiet lately. This year
they’ve introduced just one new stereo model, the VS-G75, a low cost NICAM deck.
It maintains Akai’s reputation for packing in more features per pound than most
other manufacturers, but it lacks the old sparkle, and some of the latest added-value
features, including auto installation. It’s not difficult to set up though, and
the menu-driven on-screen display is easy to follow. It has a Video Plus+ timer
and PDC, though unlike most other machines it relies on an LCD display on the
remote handset for data entry and verification. This is actually quite a good
idea, it means the timer can be set, without having to turn on the VCR and TV.
The single SCART socket on the back panel, is a bad idea, though, and it limits
its role as a home cinema machine.
It has a useful set of playback functions, including
multi-speed replay, blank skip, and index search/intro scan, then there’s the
famous Super I-HQ system, which optimises replay according to the
characteristics of the tape. After pressing the record and Super I-HQ button
the machine makes a short test recording, that works out the optimum settings
for the playback circuitry. It works well, and makes a noticeable difference to
noise levels on LP recordings made on higher grade tapes. Resolution, on SP
recordings, made using the Super I-HQ system, was a little over 240-lines,
which is above average, noise levels are low, resulting in clean-looking picture.
Colours are well defined with very little noise. The hi-fi tracks are a tad
hissy though frequency coverage is good and treble response is lively. Not one
of Akai’s most exciting products, and the single SCART counts against it, but
the price seems fair.
Value for money 80%
AKAI UK, 12 Silver Jubilee Way, Haslemere Heathrow Estate,
Hounslow, Middx TW4 6NF. Telephone
0181-897 6388
FERGUSON FV97 £450
Ferguson seem determined to get their money’s worth out of
Philippe Starcke, the FV97 is clearly inspired by his eye-catching design for the
FV88 NICAM VCR, which appeared last year. The new machine has the same
minimalist styling, that matches their current range of Dolby Pro-Logic TVs, though
unlike the FV88, (and its replacement, the FV98), it has an exposed tape hatch and
simple front panel display. It comes with a conventional remote control handset,
that can also control the basic functions of almost 30 different brands of TV.
The main features are similar to the FV88/98, with auto-installation,
multi-speed replay, continuous play/record, NTSC replay and satellite control
heading the list. The latter is used in conjunction with the VCR’s Video Plus+/PDC
timer, and once programmed, it sends
out infra-red commands (check yours is compatible..), that switches the
satellite receiver on, selects the appropriate channel and makes a timed
recording. Other useful facilities include index search/intro scan, a child
lock, that disables the front-panel controls, and a personal electronic identity
‘tag’, that is stored in the machine’s memory. This can be used to identify the
machine, if it’s stolen and later recovered.
Ferguson have taken a bold step to encourage users to make
full use of the VCRs stereo sound system. Although the aerial lead is routed
through the machine it doesn’t produce an RF output. That means you’re forced
to use the supplied SCART AV lead to connect it to the TV. Owners of older TVs,
without AV sockets, who use their hi-fi system for stereo sound, may find this
a problem.
Our sample was an early pre-production model, Ferguson
warned us that it may not be up to spec, nevertheless it performed well,
resolving 240-lines. Picture noise
levels were very low, still-frame and slomo stability were both good. The stereo
sound system worked well too, there’s only a small amount of hiss on the hi-fi
soundtracks, NICAM sound is very clean and as a bonus it has a manual recording
level control. The tiny, badly labelled front panel controls are a pain but the
sensible remote makes up for that; a generally capable machine, dedicated satellite
TV time-shifters will appreciate the versatile timer.
Value for money 85%
FERGUSON LTD, Crown Road, Enfield, Middlesex EN1 1DZ
Telephone: 0181-344 4444
HITACHI VT-F450 £400
Hitachi have been churning out good quality, middle-of-the-road
VCRs for as long as we can remember. They’re not what you would call exciting,
but they have a well earned reputation for value for money and reliability. Maybe
the F450 will help raise their profile? It’s a purposeful looking little
machine, 380mm wide, so it stacks comfortably with midi-sized hi-fi components.
It doesn’t have an auto installation system, and the tuning procedure is a bit
long-winded, but it does have several other up-to-the-minute features,
including satellite control.
It has a Video Plus+ timer, but not PDC, even though the
letters pop up on the remote handset’s LCD panel. The handset incorporates a
couple of other key features; it can be programmed to operate channel-change,
volume and on/standby functions on a dozen or so brands of TV, and it has a
shuttle dial, for controlling the machine’s multi-speed replay. Other items of
interest include front mounted AV and syncro-start sockets for the benefit of
camcorder owners, goto tape access, index search/intro-scan, rental play (tapes
are automatically rewound before replay) and endless play. The satellite
control function works in conjunction with the Video Plus+ timer, using IR
commands beamed from the window on top of the machine to switch on a nearby
satellite receiver, to make timed recordings. It works with most popular brands
of satellite equipment, but there are gaps, so check before buying.
Picture quality is very good, resolution on our sample was
in the order of 250-lines. Noise levels are lower than normal, and there’s
minimal instability during trick play. In contrast the sound is fairly average,
it’s the old background hiss again; it’s not excessive, but you’re aware of it during
quiet passages. Nevertheless, the F450 is a most agreeable machine, and the one
to put on top of your shortlist if you do a lot of satellite timeshifting.
Value for money 90%
HITACHI SALES (UK) LTD, Hitachi House, Station Road,
Middlesex UB3 4DR. Telephone 0181-849 2000
SANYO VHR-795 £429
The VHR-795 is the replacement for the VHR-874, one of last
year’s top-rated machines, and the first video recorder to feature a Digital
View Scan. DVS is an ingenious facility
that allows snatches of the mono soundtrack to be heard, at normal speed,
during fast forward and reverse picture search. It’s great for skimming through
movies or sports events, without loosing the thread, or for quickly finding a
particular point in a recording. DVS has clearly lost its luxury status, the
795 sells for just £430, that’s £70 less than the 874. In fact the 795 has a number
of extra features, not found on its predecessor. They include PDC and auto-installation;
just plug it in, tune in the TV and click the OK button. The VCRs electronic
minions do the rest. Like most other machines with auto-installation systems
the clock is regularly checked against teletext time, though only once a week
in this case, but it happens at 3am on Sunday mornings, so that takes care of Summer/Winter
time changes.
It’s a compact design, the control layout is functional but there’s
a couple of minor niggles; the single-colour front-panel display isn’t very informative,
and there’s no pause button on the front panel, fortunately there’s one on the
remote. It has the usual assortment of multi-speed replay options, plus x2 fast
play, accessed from a shuttle dial on the remote handset. It’s one a handful of
machines at this end of the market to have audio dub.
Picture performance is good, our sample managed to resolve
240-lines, noise levels are commendably low and trick play is very steady.
Background noise on the hi-fi soundtracks is about average, the NICAM decoder
is very clean. The overall response is flat and uncoloured. The 795 is a competent,
middle of the road NICAM machine, DVS makes it special and a godsend for hardened
zappers and the terminally impatient.
Value for money 90%%
Telephone SANYO UK LTD (01923) 246363
SHARP VC-M60 £400
The Sharp M60 is a neat-looking midi-sized machine with a fairly
routine specification. Styling is uncontroversial, though the front-panel transport
control cluster is an unusual design. Auto
installation kicks in as soon as the machine is connected up; press the set button
and away it goes. A couple of minutes later the tuner has been programmed and
the time and date have been set.
The M60 relies heavily on its on-screen display, and that
includes setting the Video Plus+ timer, which is a little inconvenient as it
involves a few extra button pushes, to get it in the right mode. The remote handset is a bit of an odd-bod;
plus points are the multi-brand TV remote facilities and large, easy to find transport
keys, points are deducted for the cluttered layout and scattering of minor
transport functions. The front panel display could be better designed too,
transport functions are identified by small, missable symbols.
The M60 has couple of unusual features, there’s instant
replay, which puts the machine into reverse picture search for 20, 40, 60 or
80- seconds, before going into replay mode; it has x2 fast play, and something
called ‘clean picture’. This is
supposed to be a picture enhancer facility, it certainly does something to the
picture, though on our sample it seemed to affect colour saturation more than
anything else.
The M60 makes up for
some lost ground with better than average picture quality, resolution was just
below 250-lines on our sample and that, coupled with respectably low noise
levels, results in a detailed, crisp-looking picture. The trick play functions
are very steady, and the variable slomo is very good, though it only works in
forward play. Off air audio from the NICAM decoder is squeaky clean, hardly any
noise at all, there’s very little background hiss on the hi-fi soundtracks
either, though treble response is a little stilted. It’s a useful all-rounder, no
special features but sound quality is better than average so keep it in mind.
Value for money 85%
SHARP UK LTD., Thorp Road, Newton Heath, Manchester M10 9BE.
Telephone 0161-205 2333
CONCLUSION
Picture Quality Hitachi VT-F450
Sound Quality Sharp VC-M60
Cuteness Factor Sanyo VHR-450
Best Features Ferguson
FV97
Build Quality Ferguson
FV97
Overall Value for Money Hitachi
VT-450
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R. Maybury 1995 1007
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